Welcome to Day 17 of the 30 Days to Less of a Hot Mess Challenge! We're decluttering, reorganizing and getting some fresh air to make a home we love. If this is your first time joining, you may want to start here at the beginning. Affiliate links used for your convenience.
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Today's topic is refrigerator organization, and it's pretty straightforward! I don't know about you, but I've never had an organization plan for my fridge, other than putting stuff wherever it fits and going with it!
I have a side-by-side freezer and fridge combo, which I love. Someone tried to talk me into a fridge-on-top, freezer-on-the-bottom model when we were buying, but I hated the idea of squatting down every time I opened the freezer. It's just me, but I know those are super popular.
So, your refrigerator organization needs may be a bit different from mine, depending on the appliance you have, but the ideas are the same! I loved this exercise because it took about an hour or two, and now I have a cleaned-out, highly functional space for my food. And I'm not losing random food items in the back.
While I was cleaning everything out, I found the most random thing in there: half of a torn-up blank check. Come again?! How in the world?! Anyway, you never know what you'll find when you clean out the fridge. LOL
I feel like I do a pretty good job of staying on top of leftovers and random food items. I clean out my fridge every Sunday night as we get ready for the week and in preparation for my Monday morning grocery run. I throw away leftovers and wipe down the shelves if I'm feeling super-human. Otherwise I stick to cleaning out and wiping up any goo or major spills. Then I'm ready to refill the next morning.
But even with that regular checking and cleaning, I still found duplicate condiments and old, expired foods in there.
Steps to Cleaning Out & Organizing the Refrigerator
1. Remove everything from the fridge.
If you've been around for a while, you'll know the first step to decluttering, cleaning and organizing is to take everything out!
2. Wipe down every surface as best you can.
I used to take out all the shelves to clean them and wash the baskets on the door in warm soapy water. But now I have Norwex Envirocloths, and they're awesome! I just wipe everything down with them and call it good enough. It's pretty darn clean and takes way less time. (I own 4 of the fabulous envirocloths and want more!)
As you can see, it needed a good cleaning!
3. Consolidate the contents of the fridge and throw away any duplicates, expired foods or science projects.
I can't believe all this food came out of my fridge.
4. Put everything back in an organized way.
I went to Target the other night and grabbed all the clear bins I could find. #pantryImcomingforyoutoo
RELATED: How to Organize a Pantry
I decided it would be best for all the drink items to go on the fridge door, because laying them down or having them scattered all over the fridge was just a mess. I was always moving OJ or a Starbucks cold coffee out of the way to get what I wanted. No more! They're all corralled on the door now. I made one bin for baking needs like butter and flour that I keep in the fridge. I included cream cheese in there too, because it just made sense to me and it fit.
I put all the other dairy products, like sour cream, creamer and yogurt, in another bin. I corralled my sauces and condiments in another bin. I actually swapped a few of them out with others I had stuck in the door after I took this pic. The rest of the condiments are on either the top or bottom shelf in the door. I have some things I just know are on the bottom door shelf, but it wouldn't make sense to anyone else but me, so I won't even try to explain it.
I keep eggs (I was out when I took this pic) in the middle smaller drawer, along with croissants and refrigerated doughs.
Then in the bottom two drawers, I keep fruits and veggies in one and bread, meat and cheese in the other. I know most people keep veggies in one drawer and fruit in the other, but this is what works for my family. So I say do what works for you! I love that my girls can go in and grab a string cheese for a snack without my help!
Oh, one thing I changed to help with space is the lettuce keeper. I love my lettuce spinner, but goodness, the other one I had was huge! It took up so much room. So I bought the smaller size, which takes up way less space, and I can still keep my lettuce fresh in there. Don't be afraid to trade out something that isn't working for you!
And then I've set aside space for leftovers up at the top and down at the bottom shelf. We eat at home a ton (thanks to my meal planning) and we have, and eat, a lot of leftovers. So that space is vital to my organizing.
These are the products I used in my fridge:
8″ Fridge Organization Bin
Medium Kitchen Pantry Organizer Bin
Small Kitchen Pantry Organizer Bin
Salad Spinner
At some point I'd like to make some labels with my Silhouette for the bins and drawers! I'll be sure to post a pic here when I do.
RELATED: How to Create Pantry Labels
The Messy Work: Organize your fridge today! It only took me about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. You can do this!!
In the mess with you, Laura
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